The longest-serving MP in Prince Edward Island history is hanging up his hat. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay is ready to retire.
He will not be seeking the nomination in the eastern P.E.I. riding of Cardigan, which he has represented since 1988.
MacAulay is making a formal announcement in his riding on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a tough decision, but it’s been a decision that has been very heavily discussed, with my family in particular, for 10 years,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
“It’s over 36 years. It’s a long time, but I am somewhat sensible … so I knew this had to happen.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CBC’s Kate McKenna, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay says he only wishes he ‘could have done more and got more money and programs.’ After serving as MP for the P.E.I. riding of Cardigan since 1988, MacAulay says he will not run in the next federal election.
MacAulay joins about a dozen high-profile recent Trudeau cabinet ministers not seeking re-election, including former housing minister Sean Fraser, former heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez, Justice Minister Arif Virani and former labour minister Seamus O’Regan.
The 78-year-old said he made up his mind months ago, before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to resign. He says both he and his family feel it’s time to step away from federal politics.
From farmer to minister
MacAulay grew up on a dairy and seed potato farm in the small, eastern P.E.I. community of Midgell. He married his wife, Frances, in 1972 and they raised their three daughters at the same homestead, farming until the mid-90s.
They still own the farm, leasing out the 450 acres.
MacAulay credits his wife for much of his success.
“I often say she could drive a combine, milk cows and have dinner with the Queen — and she did all of that,” he said.
His first campaign saw him run against Pat Binns, who would later become P.E.I. premier. MacAulay ran under John Turner’s anti-free trade banner. And while the Liberal campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, MacAulay won his seat in the first of 11 consecutive elections.
“I knew I had a lot to learn,” he said. “I came into it as a greenhorn and most people didn’t know who I was. But you work hard and things happen.”
He is known to be present in the riding: attending every major birthday, anniversary celebration and church supper.
When he was locked down for hours in a caucus meeting in Parliament Hill’s Centre Block during the 2014 shootings, he was said to have spent some of that time calling constituents.
He said part of the secret to his electoral success was enjoying being around people.
“It’s vitally important to be accessible,” he said. When you represent people, “they own a part of you too, because you’re part of them.”
His time in office spans six prime ministers. He experienced political highs, like the 1993 Liberal landslide, but also lows, including 2011, when the Liberal Party suffered its worst electoral defeat.
He is the longest-serving MP in the history of P.E.I., the longest-serving member of the Liberal caucus and currently the second-longest-serving MP in the House of Commons, behind the Bloc Québécois’s Louis Plamondon.
MacAulay was first appointed to cabinet in 1997. A year later, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien promoted him to solicitor general, a role that has since been expanded to include all of public safety.
“I said, oh my God, I can’t do that. And he said, yes you can,” he remembers. “I’m not a lawyer, but I guess I was blessed with some common sense and things went well.”
He recalls being pulled out of a meeting of justice ministers on Sept. 11, 2001, and flown to Ottawa to be part of cabinet discussions.
He chokes up as he talks about his daughters crying, asking him not to get on an airplane to Ottawa on the day of the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in American history.
MacAulay resigned from the job in 2002, following an ethics probe into federal contracts awarded to Holland College, a large post-secondary institution based on P.E.I. The college was run by his brother.
At the time, MacAulay denied any wrongdoing. In his resignation letter, he said he wished the ethics counsellor recognized that “very small provinces are not the same as large ones.”
He was reappointed to cabinet by Trudeau in 2015, serving as agriculture minister and minister of veterans affairs.
Looking back, he said he has no regrets — except that he wishes he could’ve built more federal projects in his riding.
He is proud of the growth of eastern P.E.I., including the designation of Greenwich Beach as a national park and the construction of the University of Prince Edward Island climate centre in his riding.
Cardigan is a predominantly rural area representing fewer than 40,000 people. It is one of the smallest ridings by population in Canada, and has grown by roughly 7,000 since MacAulay was elected.
“When I got elected first, I could drive to Charlottetown sometimes early in the morning to catch the first flight and not meet a car,” said MacAulay.
“Now there’s construction, just a lot of things going on in eastern P.E.I. That’s so important. I’m proud of that.”
‘I would speak up when I feel the need to speak up’
MacAulay said he was proud to represent farmers and ranchers at the cabinet table, having been a farmer himself.
His work took him to China and Washington in recent months, and he bonded with President Donald Trump’s former secretary of agriculture Sonny Perdue to the point where Perdue and his wife came to visit P.E.I. in 2018, amid trade tensions between the two countries.
But MacAulay said he prefers to let others at the cabinet table do the talking, unless he takes issue with a policy point or strategy.
“Thank God there’s a lot of people that like to do a lot of talking, and I’m glad they do because I’m not big on the talking,” he said.
“I would speak up when I feel the need to speak up.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CBC’s Kate McKenna, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay says he’s ‘never had nothing to do’ in his life. After the federal election, he says he’ll start ‘looking for something.’
He said he’s not sure what comes next. Growing up on a farm, he’s always had a job.
“I’ve never had nothing to do in my life,” he said. “I guess the day after the election I’ll have to get out looking for something.”
An election could be called in mid-March. The Conservatives are running former provincial cabinet minister James Aylward in Cardigan and the Liberals will need to choose a new candidate.
“I don’t intend to be around telling anybody what to do,” he said. “But if anyone asks me, like you have, I think what you have to do is not take things personal no matter what.”
